1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to tools which are utilized to align railroad rails, and in particular to tools which are utilized to align abutting rails in order to allow welding of the rails together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
All railroads have a considerable investment in their infrastructure. However, the infrastructure requires continuous attention and repair. For example, as rail becomes worn or damaged, it must be replaced. Currently, rail is in relatively long continuous sections; however, these sections must be butt welded together in order to allow for safe and efficient locomotion over the rail. In the prior art, in order to get a good weldment between the end pieces of rail sections, work crews have utilized manual equipment, such as mauls, hammers, and wedges to align the ends of the rails prior to welding. Having railroad crews operate this heavy equipment inherently carries a risk of injury to the employee. For example, when aligning rails with wedges, metal chips may fly off of the wedges when they are struck by hammers during the hammering and wedging operations, resulting in injuries to the workers. Additionally, using the heavy equipment is also inherently risky. Any new rail equipment which can reduce the risk of injury to rail crews is typically quickly and readily adopted by the industry.
It is one objective of the present invention to provide a rail alignment tool which replaces the utilization of mauls, hammers, and wedges in order to align rail ends prior to welding.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an improved rail alignment tool which allows rail pieces to be aligned, but which only requires the work crew to apply torque to a plurality of threaded bolt members, which is far safer than utilizing mauls, hammers, and wedges.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an improved rail alignment tool which is durable, lightweight, and which requires little or no maintenance, but which is safe to operate and which provides for good alignment of rail sections to allow for good welds to be made between adjoining rail sections.